Belt-shifting device.



No. 737,981. PATENTED SEPT. 1, 1903.

J. WEIGHHART.

BELT SHIFTING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED an. 2a. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Inventor jOfi/W S UNrTnD STATES Patented September 1, 1903 PATENTOFFICE.-

BELT-SHIFTING DEVICE SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No.737,981, dated September 1, 1903.

Application filed January 28, 1903- Serial No. 140,889. No model.)

T0 to whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN WEIOHHART, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Belt-ShiftingDevices, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for shifting a belt from a livepulley to a dead pulley or belt-carrier of the character or descriptionfor which Letters Patent of the United States were granted and issued tome on the 15th day of July, 1902, No. 704,723.

The invention comprises a novel construction and combination of beltcarrier and means for rotating the belt-carrier at will from a givenstation adjacent to the machine or convenient to the workman, the meansfor rotating the belt-carrier being arranged to turn it in the samedirection as the fast pulley is running, whereby the belt is transferredfrom the belt-carrier to the fast pulley by turning the belt-carrier.

The following description explains at length the nature of the saidinvention and the manner in which I proceed to construct, apply, andcarry out the same, reference being had to the drawings that accompanyand form part of this specification.

Figure 1 represents in front elevation my improved belt-shifting meansapplied to and combined with a loose pulley and a fast pulley on aline-shaft from which a belt is carried to the pulleys on a machinebelow. Fig. 2 is an elevation taken from the right side of Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a rear elevation of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is a sideView of the loose pulley, showing in detail the device to turn thepulley on the shaft.

The novel features of the mechanism illustrated in the drawings consistof a ratchetwheel fast on the be1t-carrier and a pawl carried by an armor lever that is movable in an are having the shaft for its center ofmovement and is connected by a cord of indefinite length with ahand-grip situated convenient to the workman. By oscillating or movingthe lever up and down the pawl and ratchet- Wheel cause the belt-carrierto turn, and by this movement, rotating it in the same direction as thefast pulley, with which it is arranged to run in close relation, thebelt-carrier is caused to shift the belt laterally and transfer it tothe fast pulley or driver. A separate shifting device for throwing offthe belt from the live pulley or driver is also provid ed for giving theworkman complete control of the belt from a station at a distance fromthe pulley. This last-mentioned beltshifting means may be of anywell-known construction, and the same is described and shown herein withmy improved shifting device on the belt-carrier merely for the purposeof representing and describing a complete means or apparatus fortransferring a belt in both directions to throw the power off or on.

In the drawings, a represents a belt-shifter of ordinary character,consisting of a slidebar carried in slotted guidesb and having an arm dto engage the belt G on the side of the fast pulley B farthest from thebelt-carrier.

A hand-rope 72., attached to the slide-bar, is carried by sheaves e tothe point or station from which the shifter is to be operated, and atthat end the rope is provided with a handgrip f. A counterweight g,attached to the slide-bar by a rope It, returns the shifter to positionclear of the belt when the hand-rope is released.

The support and bearing for the belt-carrier A is a stationary sleeve G,surrounding the shaft, with a bore somewhat larger diametrically thanthe shaft, so that the latter runs clear of it, and this sleeve is apart of a hanger H, in which the beltcarrier is supported in closerelation to the fast pulley, but clear of the shaft. Hangers of similarconstruction having a sleeve for supporting a belt-carrier clear of theshaft and in close relation to the fast pulley are in use at the presenttime, and that feature of itself is not a novel part of my presentimprovement. A

support of this character is shown and described in my Letters Patent,already referred to in this description.

Fast on the side of the belt-carrier A a disk 2, with aratchet-toothedrim 3, concentric with that pulley, engages a pivoted dog or pawl 4,carried by an arm or lever 5, so mounted or hung from the sleeve orsupport that by moving the outer end of the arm in one direction thepawl will engage the ratchetteeth and in the other direction the pawlwill slip on the rim. From the end of the arm a cord 6 is carried overguide-sheaves 9 to the station from which the belt-shifter is to beoperated and where a handle 12 is provided on the end of the rope.Through the medium of this rope the outer end of the arm is moved in onedirection, giving motion to the belt-carrier, and as the rope isslackened the arm drops back to position by its own weight to take afresh grip on the ratchet. A few of such rotative movements followingone another in rapid succession cause the belt to move laterally fromthe belt-carrier and onto the continuously-traveling pulley alongside ofit, because the tendency of a belt when in motion is to adjust itself tothe most direct and shortest line between the driver and the drivenpulley, and as the belt is set out of such direct working line wheneveritis shifted from the .driver onto the carrier or dead-pulley therotative movement given to the latter by the oscillating arm causes thebelt to run off the carrier and onto the live-pulley. A belt of largesize and weight can be controlled by this mechanism and readily shiftedfrom the belt-carrier to the driver.

It should be mentioned that this shifting device is specially adaptedfor transferring a belt to a live pulley from a dead pulley orbelt-carrier, such as I have included in my former Letters Patent.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new therein,and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination with a fast pulley, ofa belt-carrier mounted in closerelation to it to take a belt therefrom, and means for rotating thebelt-carrier at will in the same direction as the fast pulley istraveling, to shift the belt from the belt-carrier to the fast pulley,comprising an oscillating arm, means operating to lock the arm to thebelt-carrier in one direction of its oscillation and to disconnect thearm and the belt-carrier in the other direction.

2. The combination of a belt, a fast pulley, a belt-carrier mounted inclose relation to the fast pulley to take the belt therefrom, and meansfor rotating the belt-carrier at will with the same direction of motionas the fast pulley, comprising an oscillating arm, means operated bysaid arm to lock it to the beltcarrier in one direction of itsoscillation and to release the belt-carrier in the other direction ofits oscillation, and means connected to said arm for operating it from astation distant from the belt-carrier.

3. The combination with a fast pulley and a belt-carrier arranged inoperative relation to each other, of means for rotating the beltcarrierat will in the same direction as the fast pulley is traveling,comprising an oscillating, arm, a pawl carried thereby and a circle ofratchet-teeth on the belt-carrier with which the pawl is adapted toengage, and means connected to the arm for oscillating it from a stationdistant from the belt-carrier.

4. The combination with a belt, a fast pulley, or driver, and abelt-carrier, of belt-shifting devices comprising a belt-shifting meansoperating to move the belt laterally and transfer it from the fastpulley to the belt-carrier and means for shifting the belt from thebeltcarrier to the fast pulley, consisting of an oscillating arm, a pawlcarried thereby, a circle of ratchet-teeth on the belt-carrier withwhich the pawl is adapted to engage and a nesses.

JOHN VVEICHHART.

\Vitnesses:

EDWARD E. OSBORN, M. REGNER.

